When you buy a Coheed And Cambria record, you don’t just buy music. You buy an experience. Frontman Claudio Sanchez sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about the band’s upcoming fifth concept record (which he describes as being "very melodic") and how it will relate to the first four records.
Sanchez describes the album as "the origin tale of Coheed and Cambria." Chronologically, the story will take place before the events of the first four albums. As much as I would love to spend eight pages explaining the complex story that is The Amory Wars for those who don’t already know; you’d probably be better off researching it at your own pace. However, that doesn’t mean potential new fans will be left out in the cold. The overall theme of the new album is something that anyone should be able to relate to.
"
It’s a love story of sacrifice,"
Sanchez says. "
Like all of the Coheed records, our main character, the Creator, is put in a position where he has to do something he doesn’t want to for the safety of his wife. I got engaged last year, so I’ve tried to put myself into the character’s perspective, wondering what it would be like for me if I were to lose my significant other. And how that would destroy me." He adds, "
A lot of the Coheed records are very dark at the end."
Coheed And Cambria are currently looking for a producer to helm the project which is expected to release in the spring of 2010. Things appear to be coming along nicely, however, with eleven song ideas created and more to come.
On the subject of new songs, Sanchez says, "One of my favorite songs that we’ve recorded so far is called 'In the Flame of Error’. It’s a longer, more aggressive tune." He describes another song, "Pearl Of The Stars", as "a slower tempo song that I actually sing with a deeper voice [rather] than a high falsetto. The more I fleshed out the lyrics, the more I realized it made sense for the concept of this album." A song titled "When Skeletons Live" was described as being more uptempo and melodic.
While the new album is a long ways away, fans can check out Coheed And Cambria as they tour the U.S. with Slipknot through the rest of this month and some of next. The tour wraps up in Sacramento, CA on March 11.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.
